Wave and tidal power surging towards viability and market

Canberra Times
Monday 6/7/2009 Page: 3

Technologies to capture the power of the ocean's waves and tides are on the brink of widespread uptake, the head of an Australian ocean energy technology company says. BioPower Systems founder and chief executive officer Tim Finnigan said ocean energy could be available on the market within two to three years and would equal wind energy in price in five years. Dr Finnigan will be in Canberra tomorrow to talk about ocean energy as a viable renewable energy resource and the last steps required to get the technology to market.

His company is building pilot devices, which it will deploy next year for grid testing in the Bass Strait just off the coast of Tasmania. It plans to build commercial-scale products within two to three years. "The technologies are here," Dr Finnigan said. "I believe we could see quite a significant high-tech industry attached to an engineering design and development industry and some specialised manufacturing as well."

Wave and tidal power are often overshadowed by their older cousins wind and solar in the renewable energy industry. But as scientists and engineers overcome technical barriers of creating devices to handle ocean elements, companies around the world are working to realise the ocean's potential. In February, renewable energy company Oceanlinx redeployed its wave energy conversion unit at Port Kembla as part of its development and commercialisation program.

The company has five projects under development: two in Australia, one in Namibia and two in the United States at Rhode Island and Hawaii. Dr Finnigan said Britain, which faced serious energy supply issues and did not have significant indigenous sources such as coal, was leading in development of ocean energy technologies. "If [government] financial mechanisms are in place, or are trade available to get a few projects up and running, then it's possible Australia could take it on," he said. "Alternatively, the best technologies in Australia will migrate as many others have before."

Recognised wave energy resources exist along much of Australia's east, west and south coast. Commercial sites for tidal power could exist in Tasmania, South Australia and West Australia where tidal power flows are strong enough. BioPower has two pilot projects - tidal power and wave - which will take place in the Bass Strait near Flinders Island and King Islandand. Both technologies mimic nature, either the way fish swim or the movement of sea plants with waves, to take power from movement and channel it to an electric generator.

Dr Finnigan said they designed the devices to minimise any environmental impact. There were no rotating turbines or suction of seawater and they installed the systems by floating out the units and sinking them into place. Pilot devices each have a capacity of 250kw and commercial units will have a capacity of 1 MW, similar to a standard wind turbine. Dr Finnigan will speak tomorrow in an Australian Academy of Science public lecture from 6pm at the Shine Dome, Gordon Street, Canberra.

For more information, visit www.science.org.au.